Guidelines on Formulation of Village Rules and Regulations (Ministry of Interior No. 05/ພນ, January 31, 2023)

Article 1

The Ministry of Home Affairs, pursuant to the Law on Local Administration (Amended Version, No. 68/ສພຊ, December 14, 2015), the Law on Legislation (No. 06/ສພຊ, November 16, 2021), the Decree on the Organization and Activities of the Ministry of Home Affairs (No. 575/ນຍ, September 28, 2021), and the Submission of the Department of Local Administration (No. 07/ປທ, January 12, 2023), hereby issues the following guidance:

I. Purpose and Objectives
1. Purpose: 1.1 To define the meaning, direction, and steps for the formulation and amendment of village regulations, ensuring compliance with laws and regulations and practicality; 1.2 To ensure fairness and protect the legitimate rights and interests of the State, collectives, individuals, and village society; 1.3 To make village administration effective, efficient, and standardized.
2. Objectives: 2.1 The lives and activities of the people shall comply with laws and regulations, be in harmony with customs and traditions, be clean, orderly, aesthetically pleasing, ensure the safety of life and property, eliminate various undesirable phenomena, and enable peaceful living and work; 2.2 The people shall have awareness and understanding and actively participate in organization and implementation; 2.3 To promote the implementation of laws and foster a sense of legal compliance at the grassroots level.

II. Definition
Village regulations are rules enacted by the village administrative body to implement regulations of higher-level State agencies or to manage security and maintain order within its authority and responsibilities.

III. Guiding Directions
1. The content must conform to the Constitution, laws, sectoral regulations, or higher-level regulations, as well as the characteristics, potential, and overall interests of the village; 2. The content of village regulations must be linked to the four contents and four objectives; 3. To ensure openness, transparency, coordination with relevant parties, promotion of democracy, and broad solicitation of opinions; 4. The structure must be appropriate, and the content, words, sentences, and terms used must be precise, rigorous, clear, understandable, and tailored to local realities.

IV. Steps for Formulation and Approval of Village Regulations
Village regulations must be formulated on the basis of compliance with laws and regulations. Each formulation and amendment of village regulations shall follow the detailed steps below: 1. The village chief appoints and assigns tasks within the team responsible for formulating or amending village regulations, with members including: the village chief as head, the deputy village chief as deputy head, the Lao Front for National Construction organization and mass organizations as members, various village assistance groups as members, and other necessary departments as members; 2. The responsible team studies and drafts the content of the village regulations or amendments and submits it to the village administrative body; 3. The village administrative body convenes a village meeting to consult and gather opinions to reach consensus on the draft village regulations; 4. The village administrative body, together with the Internal Affairs Office, reviews, revises, provides guidance, and seeks opinions from the Justice Office; 5. The Internal Affairs Office submits the matter to the Office of the General Affairs, for forwarding to the District Chief, Municipality Chief, or City Mayor for approval; 6. Publicize, disseminate, and guide the organization and implementation.

V. Basic Framework Content of Village Regulations
The framework content of village regulations must be linked to the duties and powers of the village administrative body and village assistance groups. In addition to the above, the following issues must also be considered when drafting village regulations: 1. Determination of scope and subjects of application: Must be rigorous, capable of managing and protecting the overall rights and interests of the village and people of all ethnic groups, and shall have binding force only within the village territory. 2. Determination of document service fees and various village obligations: Document service fees must be studied and determined in detail and rigorously, in compliance with regulations, and approved by higher authorities; the determination of various obligations must be uniform and reasonable, based on coordination with relevant parties. 3. Determination of policies: Determining policies in village regulations is very important; those who seriously respect and well comply with village regulations must be commended or granted some appropriate policy; additionally, consideration must be given to policies for the poor, the elderly, persons with disabilities, those with children serving in the military, and those who have contributed or sacrificed for the village; village regulations must not be formulated for profit-making purposes or cause difficulties or confusion in people's lives. 4. Determination of measures: Measures are a method to encourage individuals to respect and comply with village regulations; they must be reasonable, neither too severe nor too lenient, and must be based on non-contradiction with the law; measures take various forms, such as compensation, fines (with a maximum limit specified), and performing public interest activities for the village.

VI. Organization and Implementation
1. The Department of Local Administration of the Ministry of Home Affairs is responsible for organizing the dissemination, implementation, guidance, monitoring, and evaluation of the effectiveness of this guidance; 2. Local administrative bodies at all levels shall uniformly disseminate, implement, and organize the implementation; 3. The Department of Home Affairs and the Internal Affairs Office shall, in coordination with relevant parties, implement, supervise, and monitor the strict and regular implementation of this guidance; 4. If difficulties arise during implementation, reports shall be submitted to relevant parties for consideration in accordance with procedures; 5. This guidance shall take effect from the date of signing, replacing the Guidance on the Formulation of Village Regulations No. 10/ພນ (August 24, 2016).